Today, IP based live video content is delivered via two separate mechanisms, depending on the type of device and the type of network that needs to be leveraged:                Multicast video delivery is typically used on “managed” networks, i.e. networks managed by telecom operators. On these networks, operators can guarantee a specific quality of service (QoS) and therefore can deliver video content at fixed bitrates with little packet loss and strong error recovery. Typical end devices are set-top-boxes (STBs) and residential gateways (RGs), but may also include content distribution network servers,        Unicast adaptive bitrate (ABR) video delivery is typically used on “unmanaged” networks, e.g. on the open Internet and/or leveraging a content delivery network (CDN). Typically, there is little QoS on these unmanaged networks and the available bandwidth “end to end” will vary. ABR technology allows a client to switch to a lower bitrate instance of the same content when network conditions deteriorate. Target devices include personal computers (PCs), mobile phones, tablets, smart TVs, etc. These are also known as “reach” devices or reach clients. Most of these devices do not have multicast capabilities and can operate within or outside the household. When used in-home, reach devices do still request live content from the CDN, but the content is delivered over the managed network.        
Some of the problems with the current state of the art include the following:                As the content is being packaged differently for managed and unmanaged live video delivery, i.e., multicast for managed network vs unicast delivery over HTTP for ABR video delivery, it is cumbersome to build consumption synergies across devices, such as streaming from a STB to a tablet, or simply frame accurate bookmarking;        Due to resource limitations of QoS queues in the access networks, unicast video content is prioritized as “regular internet data” and receives best effort delivery, rather than being treated as “video” as for the STB. QoS can therefore not be enforced as for the multicast video delivery. This translates into sub-optimal video bitrate selection for ABR and therefore a degraded user experience;        Channel surfing can be cumbersome as the latency to obtain the content from the CDN exceeds the user expectation in terms of system responsiveness; and        Policy enforcement on the access network is missing. There is currently no mechanism in the home network to anticipate upstream resource constraints on the fixed QoS access network based on downstream requests, and no mechanism to enforce policy on unmanaged reach clients in the home network.        